


Attack of the Qinderac

by Turtle_Lady42



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka
Genre: Action/Adventure, All kinds of telepathy, Because I'm Hungarian and I don't know much about Brittish culture, But the Doctor likes dropping cultural references, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Hungarian cultural references, Hurt/Comfort, I haven't seen the Old Who, In a canon compliant way, M/M, Original Alien Species - Freeform, So please just pretend that it's original, So when I learned about the Process I was already nearly finished with this fic, Telepathy, Thanks TARDIS Wiki!, This is like a telepathy fest, lots of telepathy, sometimes a bit cheesy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:09:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26199109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turtle_Lady42/pseuds/Turtle_Lady42
Summary: The TARDIS is malfunctioning, the Doctor takes a break to fix it. Meanwhile the Master is acting strange giving him and Alison another reason to worry. Things escalate and soon enough they find themselves in a classic whovian adventure. (But with more thoschei.)I wrote this fanfiction for my sister because she's sick and I'd like her to feel better. Sis, if you're reading this, I'm sending you lots and lots of love! <3
Relationships: Alison Cheney & The Doctor (Doctor Who), Alison Cheney & The Master (Doctor Who), The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who)
Kudos: 4





	1. Maintenance Issues

**Author's Note:**

  * For [My sister](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=My+sister).



> This work is dedicated to my sister, my favorite human in the universe. I hope you'll get better soon!
> 
> Anyone else reading this: Thank you very much for giving this fanfic a chance! I hope you'll enjoy it, I for one sure loved writing it.

  * CHAPTER 1 : MAINTENANCE ISSUES -



The TARDIS made a squeaking sound as it landed in the dusty streets of Budapest, Earth 2020. Not the best year, the Doctor noted, one might even say it was cursed. He’d once assumed that the chain of catastrophic events were a work of something extraterrestrial, an alien invasion disguised in an exceptionally neglectful way but as it turns out the human race and their planet were perfectly capable of bringing all of them upon themselves. Be as it may, the Doctor had other things to worry about.

„The landing was raugh again. Right time but wrong location, she isn’t supposed to make those sounds. She sounds like a distorted version of Zoltan Kodaly trying to play the viola for the first time.” He’s referring to the TARDIS of course but judging by the look on Alison’s face it must have sounded strange. Well she’s going to get used to it, it’s just a matter of time. While her presence was refreshing the Doctor was getting tired of explaining every little insignificant detail to his companions. He had faint memories of enjoying it back in the day but that was a long time ago. This body was less chatty, more introverted than his previous regenerations. He still had his own quirks and hobbies he could get passionate about and he could be floaty at times but he didn’t like to waste his energy on pointless conversations. He was grateful for having the Master programmed to enjoy talking. He might have been sarcastic but he handled situations the Doctor couldn’t be bothered to care about quite well.

Which reminded him, the Master has been unusually quiet lately. He still greeted him every time he returned to the console room and he still made snarky remarks about Alison’s presence but he’s been significantly less critical of the Doctor and his need for solitude increased each day.

He wasn’t worried, the Master was an android after all, the chances of him getting seriously hurt were very slim. However he missed his companionship. He was an introvert not antisocial. The discussions he had with the Master never exhausted him, he enjoyed the intellectual challenge and the reminder that there was still someone in the universe who understood and acknowledged his history, their history.

„Where are we, Doctor?” Alison interrupted his cogitation. „You’ve mentioned earlier that you were sent to places where something terrible was about to happen. Is something about to happen here?”

The Doctor snorted.

„You have no idea, Mrs Cheney. But we have no business here. I found a loophole - maybe that’s why we ended up in Hungary, they’re quite good at that. Anyhow I was trying to find a place of utter chaos, somewhere they'd let me stay until I figure out what’s wrong with my ship. We’re only here to fix the TARDIS and buy a few bottles of pálinka.”

They would never even notice this wasn’t the destination they were planning to send him to. If it took the Doctor a week to figure out the nature of the global pandemic and political disputes the year held it would take a decade for those idiots at the very least.

„Have you seen the Master? He’s been spending a lot of time away from the console room lately. It isn’t safe to let him out of sight for too long, he could be up to something.”

Alison shook her head.

„I saw him leave this room when you were busy doing something alieny about ten minuites ago. But I don’t know where he was going and this ship is huge.” She was still astonished by the „bigger on the inside'' thing. Being a police box on the outside and a bigger room on the inside would have been one thing. But the TARDIS was like a mansion. Or bigger. „Would you like me to find him? I like exploring your ship anyway.”

The Doctor gave her a nod.

„I’d be grateful for that. When you find him give me a call, the TARDIS should be able to notify me if you ask her to. I’ll be out getting us some drinks. We’ll be here for a while, we might as well enjoy our stay. Cheerio!” And just like that that he left.

So he was serious about the pálinka, Alison thought. It’s often hard to tell whether he’s joking or not. Right now she didn’t really mind if it meant free drinks for her.

As soon as the Doctor left the box she headed downstairs where she last saw the Master disappear to. She would have loved to wander off but she was starting to understand that the TARDIS was somehow sentient and she would rather not have a ship tattling about her whereabouts to the Doctor. She’s enjoyed the trust she gained by keeping the ship rules and not asking too many questions.

After two right turns and a left turn she noticed a door in the corner of the main aisle. There were a great number of rooms in the TARDIS but this one door caught her attention because it had a KEEP OUT sign hanging on its knob.

The Doctor warned him before that some parts of the TARDIS could be dangerous. It would make sense to put a warning on a door that leads to let’s say flesh eating spiders. On the other hand would that warning really look like the DO NOT DISTURB signs in a cheap motel? Somehow she doubted the Doctor would be so sloppy. When it came to the TARDIS he was a man of discipline. He would either put on a proper sign or not put one on at all. This doorhang seemed too casual to be the Doctor’s doing. It seemed more like a weak attempt of an emo teenager (aka the Master) to keep his parents out of his territory.

She was weighing her options. If she was right she would interrupt a very moody and allegedly dangerous Master. She could get hurt but she doubted he would try anything serious, he seemed too polite for that in a very disturbing way. If she wouldn’t get hurt but also wouldn’t find the Master the Doctor would still be upset but she would get to have an inside-TARDIS adventure without breaking the Doctor’s trust. If she did get hurt… Well. With all the adventures they had it was kind of inevitable. She decided to enter the room.

The Master didn’t expect intruders. He knew the Doctor wasn’t suspicious, even if he decided to look for him he would take the hint when he saw the sign. And the new companion didn’t seem to particularly care about him (the feeling was mutual by the way). When he heard the door open part of him was hoping it was the Doctor, finally noticing that something was off about him, finally taking the courage to risk a conflict in order to see if he was okay. But when he collected his strength to let go of the table he was leaning on he had to face the human. He forced a sarcastic smile.

„Mrs Cheney. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

The girl seemed shocked and confused. She must have seen how weak he was, he didn’t straighten up fast enough. She might have even seen his face plate open revealing his robotic structure but he doubted she saw the electric sparks between the pipes. They were already dying down when she entered.

„The Doctor sent me.” She stuttered. „He was worried, well he said he was worried about your plans but I think he was more worried about you. He’s trying to fix the TARDIS. I think he needs your help since you’re connected to it or something.”

The Master frowned.

„Tell him I’m experiencing slight maintenance issues but I’ll be joining him in a minute.” That should be enough to get rid of the girl. It’s not like she’s an expert of android mechanics or any Time Lord technology really. Yet she seemed hesitant to leave.

„Are you okay?” She had the nerve to ask.

Why would she think that she had the right to be concerned about him? He made it clear that he and her were not on friendly terms, he only tolerated her because he knew her presence was good for the Doctor. Certainly better than his…

"Splendid. However I can't help but wonder what gave you the absolutely ridiculous idea that I'd be responsive to your concern." He was trying to keep the answer cynical but he felt a hint of genuine bitterness sneak into his words. Emotions - he would have been immensely grateful if this new and frankly degrading body would have allowed him to get rid of them. Humans and other lesser species tended to imagine robots and androids as purely logical, calculating beings, free of petty human affections and desires. That was unfortunately false. There was little the Master wouldn't sacrifice for a mind unaffected by his fears, anger and love for the Doctor. Ruling the universe would have been much easier though in his current position it might have been a good idea to let go of that goal, or at least put it aside for the time being.

Alison raised an eyebrow. She knew the Master wasn't particularly open about his feelings but his lies about his well being were new. She was wondering what he was hiding. If the Doctor found out what she saw and she would have no good explanation about why she didn't keep pursuing the topic when the Master could have been in danger the Doctor would flip. He was funny that way, he kept insisting he didn't care about humans, about the Master, about anyone but the universe but when someone was in trouble he could never resist to help them. The Master probably knew the reason the Doctor built those walls but he would never tell her. They had some kind of silent agreement, a pact neither of them would say out loud that they would keep their history between each other. It was either too terrifying, too intimate or both. And Alison didn't pry. She wasn't scared about what would happen if she did, if she could survive the invasion of the Shalka she could definitely handle some death glares from the Doctor. But she understood what it was like to bury traumatic memories and she knew it would be too painful to dig them up.

"Look. Whatever your "maintenance issues" are, for some reason I have a hunch you would not be happy if I revealed the state I found you in to the Doctor. So you can either tell me what's going on and let me be the judge of whether you're splendid or you could answer the Doctor when he gets back."

Is she threatening him? The Master was a little impressed. She was right, it would be embarrassing if the Doctor found out about his condition through his companion. He could have lied to her, made something up that sounded realistic to her inferior human mind but frankly he was tired. His circuits were overheating, he could feel it in his entire body. He was not sure how much time he had left until something went undeniably wrong. And then he would have to explain everything to the Doctor and admit knowing about his vulnerability for a few weeks now and not telling him. So annoying.

"Very well. If you must know there have been a few unexplainable issues in my system and even though they could be a reason for concern if left uncorrected I wish to hide them from the Doctor since he can be a tad dramatic when he feels something could be a threat to his idyllic life in the circle of his companions.” He needed to sit down. It was getting hard to keep his composure and his mind felt dizzy. He could tell he seemed miserable. How humiliating. “I can fix it by myself if you just let me work in peace. But if the Doctor finds out he’ll make me rest and start blundering, he’s horrible at robotics, always has been.”

“He built you.” Alison pointed out. He would have argued with her but he felt like a part of his brain had just shut down. “You should tell him, he’ll understand. If someone I loved was sick…”

“Loved?” The Master laughed as if he just heard the best joke in his existence. “Oh no, dear Mrs Cheney. I’m afraid you misunderstood. The Doctor and I go way back and I was of use for him when he salvaged me. That’s all. Now that he has you my loss wouldn’t matter for him the slightest. It could even be a relief not to have me around anymore given the troubles I caused him in the past.” He could feel his hearts sink as he said those thoughts out loud.

“I find that hard to believe.” Alison said and he could feel the pity in her voice. But she also sounded like she genuinely believed what she said. “Trust me when I say this, he obviously cares about you a lot.” He gave her a doubtful glance. “But whatever, it’s not like you’ll believe me. Talking about what would happen if you were gone was a bigass leap from the way you’ve described this issue before and I have a feeling you’re not exaggerating.” She opened the door and encouraged him to move out. “You’ll tell the Doctor. End of discussion.”

The Master hesitated to follow her instructions but he already sunk low enough. He had little to lose. He followed her upstairs, back to the console room and sat down to the ground as she told the TARDIS to call the Doctor. It’s not like he cares, it’s not like it matters. He’s been left to die by his friend/enemy a few times before and he was well aware of his worth to him. At least his new companion will see him for what he is, a hypocrite.

When the Doctor entered the room and saw the Master sitting on the ground he immediately knew something was wrong. The Master never sat like that.

“What’s happening to you?” He put down the two bottles of pálinka on the console and hurried to his older companion.

“Good afternoon to you as well, my dear.”

He ignored the Master’s sarcastic remark. Something wasn’t right about him, nay something was horrifyingly off about him. He took his hand in his own to check his temperature. Hot. Very, very hot.

“You’re not well. What happened? What is causing this?”

“My dear, do you really believe I’d be sitting here completely at your mercy if I knew?”

This couldn’t be happening. He was so careful when he designed him, he made sure his Time Lord parts weren’t prone to infections and his robotic parts were carefully protected. He even used his old robotics textbooks. The Master should have been safe from everything that could cause a Time Lord or a robot harm, he should have had even better chances at survival than him.

He hurried to his living room to find his sonic screwdriver. He hasn't used it in a while but he really needed to run a precise scan right now. Luckily the Master didn’t have any wood in him. He ran back to the console room and pointed the device at the Master. The other Time Lord flinched but didn’t try to stop whatever he was doing. The sonic got the results and the Doctor checked them out eagerly. A shock ran through his face. He looked back at the Master who was glaring at him with increasing curiosity.

“It looks like you’ve been attacked by aliens, my friend.”

  * END OF CHAPTER 1 -




	2. The Qinderac

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow you made it to Chapter 2? That's very flattering. Now you'll get to read a bunch of nonsense which you'll probably find lots of mistakes in if you're a hardcore whovian but hey, isn't that what Doctor Who is all about?  
> Enjoy!

  * CHAPTER 2 : THE QINDERAC -



This was possibly the most humiliating thing that has ever happened to the Master and he’s lived in a crispy body before. Having your body invaded by a much lesser species was so disgustingly human. The Doctor identified the entities as the qinderac, a species of parasites that feed off of chronon energy. It was very much possible that the same parasites were causing the TARDIS to malfunction. They either spread from the ship to the Master or from the Master to the ship, hopefully it was the first option because the Doctor treasured his TARDIS and would kill him if he did her any harm. That is if the parasites didn’t kill him first.

“It looks like the qinderac are sentient, hopefully we can communicate with them and maybe get ourselves a deal.” The Doctor announced. He was so naive the Master had to laugh. These beings could be sentient but were certainly not rational.

The Doctor glared at him.

“How is this funny to you? You could be in grave danger.”

“My dear Doctor, I by no means meant to interrupt your peculiarly careful planning.” The Master smiled. “I just couldn’t help but notice how incredibly foolish you sounded. Look at these creatures. You can tell merely by their wormlike appearance that all they care about is getting their intestines full. Do you really think you could get them to listen to one of your monologues about peace and kindness and Rasillion knows what other nonsense.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s obvious we’ll have to kill them somehow. They’re parasites, Doctor. Your pacifism can not possibly spread this far.”

The Doctor made a face.

“For once this isn’t about pacifism. We know what they want, we don’t know how to kill them. Communication seems like the simpler solution in this case.”

“What could you even offer them?” The Master taunted him. “They already have me and the TARDIS, if they can take over the ship they can go wherever they wish in the universe.”

“Not if they eat all the energy.” The Doctor roamed about in the room. “Maybe we could offer them a trip somewhere, somewhere with more chronon energy.”

“They would just take the trip and consume us anyway.”

He could see that the Doctor knew he was right. It scared him to see him this nervous. He couldn’t blame him, after all his ship was on the line. Yet he wished he was more confident so he could feel safer. His life might have not mattered to the Doctor but it mattered to him. He still had one universe and two hearts to conquer and - oh my that sounded cheesy enough for him to be worried about his own sanity. He wanted to gag. This infection really did bring out the worst in him.

“If they’re anything like Earth-parasites we could try removing them manually.” Alison said. The Master almost forgot she was there and judging by the Doctor’s surprise he did too. The girl was surprisingly calm compared to the situation they were in, maybe because she didn’t understand its consequences yet. She didn’t know that if they lost the TARDIS she would be stuck in 2020.

“Do you have experience with that?” The Doctor asked.

“Not really but you would be surprised how much you can learn if you’re a bartender. I once served a doctor who described the process in vivid detail after a few glasses of tequila.” The memory made her shiver. Her imagination was too visual for the things she heard that night.

The Master wasn’t fond of the idea of getting taken apart by a Time Lord who failed robotics several times before barely passing and then getting his space-parasites removed by a human bartender who heard a horror story once. But the Doctor seemed to consider the idea, that impulsive idiot.

“If you really decide to do this I strongly suggest you try it on the TARDIS first.” The Master groaned. “I’d rather die slowly with parasites inside me than at the hands of two clumsy nutjobs.”

The TARDIS made a weak sound. She didn’t really want to go first either.

“Oh stop it. It’s going to be fine. We’ll be careful.” The Doctor reassured her. “Now where should we start?”

“The Heart, obviously.” The Master opined. “Landing on the wrong location, making that deafening sound, all point to problems with the Heart. And a bad pilot.” He added.

The Doctor ignored his last comment, he was overcome by the rush of danger and the possibility of a solution. 

“Yes.Yes! You’re brilliant!”

“I’m glad you noticed.”

“Mrs Cheney if you could step back. The Heart of the TARDIS can be dangerous to humans. Thank you very much. I’m so glad I’ve made sure to install an opening button, it would be a shame if we had to use a truck. Hmm. I don’t know where that idea came from.” He opened the console and from below it a light shone out painting the room bright yellow. If you were to ask Alison she would have told you the Heart was beautiful. But the two Time Lords knew what it was supposed to look like.

“This is not right, you were right.” The Doctor muttered. He was about to take a closer look when the console shut back down nearly decapitating him. The Heart’s light disappeared and all the lights shut down. The TARDIS went completely dark.

Suddenly the lights turned back on but this time they were brighter and blindingly blue. A deep and raspy voice filled the room.

“You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you Doctor? We expected more from you.”

The Doctor took a step back and looked around in the TARDIS.

“You must be the leader of the qinderac, nice to meet you.” The Doctor was trying hard to seem confident. He knew it worked, it always did. “Obviously an advanced species, unlike someone here anticipated.” He glanced at the Master pointedly, the other Time Lord grimaced. “You took control of the ship somehow, very smart. I assume we’re trapped here. What are you planning? What do you need us for? If you have control over the TARDIS you could have easily killed us already.”

The Master admired his frenemy’s bravery. As usual, he marched into a power contest with no actual plan or resources, like some kind of maniac. He seemed to make sense but giving the parasites ideas was a risk and he knew that. Probably. He didn’t really censor himself in the middle of these vents of his. He most likely didn’t even consider how the same risk of being controlled affected the Master and how dangerous that could be. For now he didn’t feel controlled, he just felt overwhelmingly numb. Maybe the Doctor saw that, maybe he simply didn’t pay attention.

“We do not kill.” The qinderac replied which frankly took the Master by surprise. “We’re not that different Doctor, you and us. We would like you to understand that.” The voice sounded sincere and yet threatening. I should take notes - the Master thought, but then he remembered there really was no point if his consciousness was going to die. “We both desire a world of peace and we would both like to see it all. Every aspect, every little detail of this universe. A universe you are all part of.” The creature took a dramatic pause before it spoke again. “You were wrong about us before, Doctor. We are not the leader of the qinderac. We are all of us.”

The Doctor’s expression shifted into a disattracted amusement.

“A hive mind. Of course. You share a consciousness, you communicate through parallel telepathy, fantastic!” He looked at the Master. He felt like he was expecting something from him. He tilted his head, asking him to elaborate. “So what? You want to connect to everyone’s mind, connect your consciousness so you can see everything from every perspective, is that it? An expanded mind like that, you must be extremely tuned to telepathic techniques.” Oh. The Master finally understood and he sent the other Time Lord a friendly telepathic nudge to let him know that. The Doctor’s plan was crazy but not completely unrealistic and he quite liked it actually.

“We want what’s best for all of us. Sometimes living in peace with someone requires taking a little bit of their free will, a little bit of programming if you will. You of all people should understand that.” For a brief moment rage filled the Doctor’s eyes but that moment quickly passed when a new voice replaced the raucous voice of the qinderac.

“I am the Master. And you will OBEY me.”

  * END OF CHAPTER 2 -




	3. Collateral Damage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, good human who decided this fanfic was worth reading! Today I offer you more inaccuracies and emotional damage. Don't worry, the latter was on purpose and is going to get resolved in the next chapter (Spoiler!).  
> Hope you'll enjoy it!

  * CHAPTER 3: COLLATERAL DAMAGE -



“I am the Master. And you will OBEY me.”

The blue lights shut down and the original lights returned. The console room went back to its usual state, the echoing voice of the qinderac was nowhere to be heard.

“What just happened?” Alison asked, still in a shock.

“I’ve used hypnosis to make them fall asleep. I bought ourselves a little time.” The Master tried not to sound too exhausted. “I doubt they’re going to obey me for long. Their will power is strong, I’ve only managed to break into their telepathic system because some of them were already inside mine and I caught them off guard. Fortunately their parallel telepathy allowed my little trick to reach all of them.”

“But it wore you out.” The Doctor pointed out. “You should rest. Alison and I are going to take care of everything else.”

“You could at the very least thank me.” The Master snarled. “If it wasn’t for me all your hope of saving your precious ship would be gone. I refuse to be left behind, you might be too stubborn to realize it, my dear, but you need me.” That was his best chance at survival. If he could prove himself useful in a way his human couldn’t be, the Doctor would find a reason to keep him around if a possible crisis required him to choose. If he stayed and did nothing it would be harder to convince him. Without seeing his value the Doctor could make the rational decision and let him be the collateral damage. Letting the Doctor see him sick was already a big enough risk, he had a good reason for trying to hide it in the past. He couldn't afford looking weak in front of him. “Just let me accompany you. I’ll swear off of pestering you for the time being.”

The Doctor wanted to protest, he wanted to make the Master understand that he just wanted him to get better. But the words of the qinderac were still ringing in his ears. He never meant to strip his friend from any of his free will. Even though he let him keep his personality with all his flaws and evil intentions he knew he was still controlling him to an extent, after all he was programmed not to be able to leave the ship or hurt any humans. And that made him feel guilty enough to give in just this once.

“Fine. Join us, you understand the TARDIS better than I do anyways. We’re going to the Architectural Configuration room, I have a plan.” He made his way towards the right wing of the stairs that lead up to the second level of the TARDIS where she kept all her control rooms. “And thank you.” He added hesitantly, just loud enough for the Master to hear him and make him smirk ever so slightly.

Alison helped the Master up and they followed the Doctor upstairs. The girl was annoyed by these two idiots. Even she couldn’t believe that she was in the middle of an alien infestation or whatever and the tension between her two travel bodies was what bothered her. But it’s not like she was a mind controlling telepathic being like the qinderac or the Master apparently. She had her own issues. And she fully intended to put a temporal bandaid on them by fixing the issues of her companions.

“So… Doctor, what do you think about our favorite robot keeping this from you up until now, eh? Do you think he had a good reason?” The Master gave her a death glare. She wasn’t sure if it was because of her questions or the robot part. Most likely both.

“Oh, I’m not surprised. I’m used to him hiding things from me. You should get used to it too. He’s the most dishonest person I’ve ever met and I won’t bother figuring out his reasons because frankly I’m tired of his excuses.”

Okay then. That wasn’t how she was planning this to go but judging by the Master’s expression he saw this response coming. Maybe if he collaborated just a bit they could move forward. But it seemed like he wasn’t intending to.

What did she expect him to say? The Doctor was annoyed by the Master’s secrecy of course he was. It was just another reminder of how much they’ve both changed and how much they’ve drifted apart since they were kids. Back then they used to share everything. Their preferences, their mischiefs, their future plans, even their innermost desires. Those were simpler times, things were more complicated now, he understood that. And it wasn’t like he expected the Master to regain that trust for him, he was his enemy and his guard after all. It wasn’t one sided either, there was no way he would trust the Master with anything important nowadays. He already showed him several times that he was ready as ever to betray him if it provided him any advantage. And the Doctor was determined not to let that piss him off. His tactic was simple: Always expect the worst. This way he won’t be able to disappoint him no matter what kind of devilish plan he is going to come up with.

Of course Alison couldn’t possibly guess any of that, she had no idea about his history with the Master or the things his companion did in the past. In her eyes they were just two grumpy aliens trying to avoid confrontation. She didn’t know what usually happened when they finally decided to reveal how they felt and gave in to their anger and bitterness. All those wars between them and yet here they were trying, that had to mean something - the Doctor thought. But he brushed it off as quickly as he dared to consider it. He had to focus on the problem at hand, the infestation of the qinderac. They might have not been a threat at the moment but they had to move quickly, species with mental strength like this won’t be held back by simple hypnosis for long. He speeded up his steps and his companions followed him.

Soon they arrived at the Architectural Configuration room. The Doctor used his sonic to open the door (a pretty great security system if you asked him, sonic prints were more unique and permanent than Time Lord fingerprints) and revealed a pile of buttons and handles on the wall.

“Right. To catch up the newbies, these are the circuits responsible for the TARDIS’s room system, they can relocate or delete rooms if we or the ship decide to. If I’m right we can use it to relocate the Heart of the Tardis somewhere nearby since the entry under the controller downstairs was carefully locked by our guests. Once we have it we can find the qinderac and remove them.”

“How do we know the other parts of the TARDIS aren’t infected?” Alison questioned.

“We don’t. But the Heart is the center of chronon energy in the TARDIS so it would make sense if most of them gathered there. Also they were really trying to keep us away from it so it has to be important.” The Doctor pulled a handle and then pushed a few buttons. Nothing. “It’s not working. Why is it not working? The qinderac are asleep, they’re not eating, some energy had to return by now. Unless…” He pulled out his sonic and scanned the panel in the wall. “Oh, clever, clever creatures. Well, not clever because it wasn’t their idea but lucky, very lucky. So that’s how they were controlling the TARDIS, I should have known…”

“Know what, Doctor?” Alison was getting a bit impatient, he couldn’t blame her.

“They eat the energy but they don’t digest it, they store it in their system instead creating a connection between themselves and their target. To put it simple they make the TARDIS feel like she still has energy because the energy is technically still present in her by being present in them so she doesn’t feel the need to recharge.” He explained before he turned to the Master. “I wonder why they didn’t start controlling you. I thought it was because they were busy consuming any new chronon energy the TARDIS produced but if the TARDIS wasn’t creating new energy they could have had plenty of time and motive to take control of you as well. It doesn’t add up…”

“If you could stop dwelling on the past, Doctor, you might just realize that by handling the situation at hand quickly that’s going to become nothing but useless conspiration.” The Master reminded him. “How are we going to charge the AC room? Needless to say we’ll have to find an alternative energy source and as we both know the only thing the TARDIS can operate on aside from chronon energy is artron energy. We’ll explain later.” He waved off Alison and the girl closed her mouth. “As for where we’re going to get that artron energy from we have three options: A) electrocute your human’s mind - my personal favorite, B) I kill you, you regenerate - also an alluring option or C) draining the little artorn energy I have left since I became this monstrosity. Now I have reason to presume you would prefer the last option and as much as I’d love to argue with you we’re operating on a tight schedule here. You can use your sonic to transition the energy from my circuits to your TARDIS’s and given my condition you should do it fast.” When he saw the hesitation in the Doctor’s eyes he gestured to him to hurry up. “We don’t have the whole century.”

The Doctor finally agreed and without another word he pointed his sonic screwdriver at him. Blue electricity floated from the Master’s head and into the screwdriver before the Doctor directed it back into the configuration circuits. With the machine now buzzing with power the Doctor repeated the same routine he was trying to do before. This time the Heart appeared behind them with a silent popping sound. Alison stepped back as she was told to do before but the Doctor pulled her forward.

“Don’t worry, I’ve made sure to secure it when I moved it here. We need your expertise this time.”

They opened the hood that was protecting the Heart and the Doctor used his sonic’s light to search the now barely glowing part of his ship. Alison was kneeling beside him, looking for anything suspicious.

“Ew.” She was wearing a grossed out expression. “Doctor, I think I found them.”

On the side of the Heart its natural wrinkles were swamped with motionless worm-like bodies. They were about the size of a mouse with white skin and a metallic clitellum in the middle. They looked slimy and wet, the mucus around them proved that it wasn’t just because of the illusion of association. When the Doctor examined the other wrinkles he noticed that they were all over the Heart, hiding in the gaps and rifts.

“With that size it shouldn’t be difficult to remove them, their slime isn’t poisonous to humans according to my readings.” He enounced. “Just be careful not to damage the TARDIS.”

“Aren’t you going to help me?”

“Believe me I would but I know nothing about this procedure. Also my artron energy and their slime don’t mix, they’d blow both of us up.” He was genuinely sorry. “That’s probably why they didn’t use the Master, they must produce this substance while controlling their prey... I’m afraid you’ll have to do this part alone. I trust you Alison Cheney.”

Alison blushed a little at the compliment. It wasn’t anything romantic but she’s been trying really hard to gain the Doctor’s trust and respect and seeing that it paid off felt ecstatic. She was about to get to work when something inside the Heart moved. She pulled her hand back. Soon the Heart was crawling with the qinderac, and even though the creatures couldn’t make any sound their skin friction made a hissing noise as they were slithering on each other.

“We’re out of time.”

“No, no, no. We were so close.” The Doctor fell into despair. “Maybe we can buy a little more time, maybe the Master could…”

“Hello again, Doctor.” The Doctor turned around to face the source of the deep, raspy voice behind his back. The Master was standing there with no signs of his previous weakness. He was smiling, but the smile was not his. “Care to reconsider our offer?”

  * END OF CHAPTER 3 -




	4. Connection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are at the last chapter and you're still reading. Good for you! This chapter is awfully cheesy, you've been warned. Good luck reading it and thank you for reading this whole thing. It really means a lot. <3

  * CHAPTER 4: CONNECTION -



There he was facing his best enemy again. Only this time behind the same eyes, behind the face the Master chose for himself there was something different. He wouldn’t say darker because there weren’t many beings more evil than the Master in the universe, but something more unnerving. The Doctor straightened his posture. He had to look confident, he had to look threatening.

“Let my friend go or else you’ll regret it. You don’t know what I’m capable of.

“Oh don’t we? Seems to us like you’re not even capable of touching us.” The qinderac laughed. Their laughter was nothing like the Master’s. “Besides your “friend” if he would even accept that title would be delighted by the things we’re offering him. We could see his desires, you know.” They smiled in amusement and wonderment. “He’ll be able to rule the universe with us. He’ll even get rid of those pesky little emotions he had for you. We really don’t care about you at all that much.”

“If you knew the Master at all you would know that he would never share his power over the universe with anyone.”

“You mean anyone except for you.” That Doctor was taken aback by that. “That’s right, we know he wanted to share it all with you. But you refused. Why?” The qinderac examined the Doctor closely. “You must have known that the life you could offer him wouldn’t satisfy him. You pride yourself on being selfless but when it comes down to it you would always be selfish and choose your morals over him.” They circled around the Doctor, like a predator around its prey. The Doctor didn’t show any signs of fear. “Have you ever considered what would have happened if you accepted that deal? If the two of you could rule the universe couldn’t the universe still have been a better place? It would have still had you after all and you would have had so much more power to fix its problems or even erase them. We would say that the Master was right to think that you simply didn’t care about him enough.”

“That’s not true.” The Doctor protested.

“Isn’t it?” The qinderac finally stopped in front of him. “Then prove it. Join us, Doctor. Together we could make the universe a better place.” They offered the Master’s hand. “Or we could be enemies and we could rebuild you by force. We all know that you don’t have the power to stop us.”

The Doctor glared at his hand. This situation was far too familiar and memories he’s been trying to repress since centuries came rushing back to him. The first time the Master offered him his hand was when he fell while running on the red fields of Gallifrey with his best friend. He was trying to pull him up but instead they both fell. The second time he offered his hand was when he asked him to dance with him on a ball. He accepted and it was one of the most romantic nights of his life. The Master kept offering his hand after that and he always accepted. Always, until that fateful day. And after that nothing was the same.

“Alright.” The Doctor said “I’ll take it.”

“You can’t be serious.” Alison said. “All this work and you’re just going to give in now?”

“What can I say, I had an epiphany.” The Doctor took the Master’s hand. The qinderac smiled with satisfaction. “Mrs Cheney please stay closeby.” The Doctor pulled the Master closer, taking the qinderac by surprise. He pressed his forehead against his and thought “Contact”.

“Contact.” The answer came. He was inside.

_The Master didn’t expect the Doctor to try and get in touch with him after he was possessed by the qinderac. With his artron energy gone he had even less chance to be of his help not to mention getting this close to the creatures was dangerous and stupid and the chances of him still being concious enough to let the two of them communicate were extremely low. He felt barely present, if he wasn’t so worried, no, not worried, just curious about what was going to happen to his frenemy he would have already let go. When he heard his invitation he let him in eagerly. His situation was hopeless and the Doctor was foolish as always but at least he got to say goodbye. (How do you say goodbye to a friend you’ve tried to murder several times?)_

_“Listen to me, we don’t have much time.” He heard the Doctor’s voice. No kidding - he wanted to say but his thoughts fell back, too heavy and weak to reach the Doctor’s mind. Great, now he was forced to listen to his nonsense without being able to say what he meant to tell him. This was definitely not how he imagined his ideal last moments of existence._

_“You have to fight them. The qinderac said something and I realized…” His voice has been cut off and pushed out by the qinderac’s thoughts: conquer, power, see, show, eat, the Master could swear they were the most boring species he ever met and the worst thing was he could actually feel the passion as those thoughts invaded his mind. He still felt the Doctor’s presence though and he was positively surprised by his determination. What did he mean to say?_

_Blurry images appeared in his mind. A flash of him and the Doctor playing back in Gallifrey, a quick glimpse of him helping the Doctor up, of the two of them dancing, then laughing together, then the war, them fighting, the Doctor turning his back on him…_

_The images stopped, he felt like something was trying to compress his consciousness into a tiny bubble and eventually nothing. He could hardly feel or think anything anymore other than the qinderac’s rage and endurance._

_Then he felt new emotions, not his own, not the qinderac’s. Bitterness, regret, grief, fondness, all wrapped into the Doctor’s familiar kindness. Then something stronger, something bolder. Hatred. Appreciation. Gratitude. Love. So much love. Desperation, fear, dread to lose someone important._

_“That’s enough!” He felt themselves say. But it wasn’t enough, not to him-_

Their connection broke. The Doctor was pushed back by the qinderac who were about to say something, probably a snarky remark about how the Doctor didn’t stand a chance against them when the Master’s face plate swung wide open, revealing the worm-like creatures inside.

“Now, Mrs Cheney!” The Doctor instructed as he ran back to the handles on the wall. Alison understood and immediately pushed her hand between the pipes. She grabbed the worms and threw them out of the Master one by one. She probably didn’t follow the protocol the doctor she served once told her about but this seemed effective enough.

“Clean!” She shouted back to the Doctor.

“Perfect, step away!” The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the Master deactivating him then activating him again.

The Master opened his eyes and closed his face plate. He seemed way more energetic than before and he was smiling. Alison never saw him smile like this before.

“Good, you’re back.” The Doctor greeted him. “Quick update: We ended up starting with you so the TARDIS is still infested. But since you seem well and awfully cheerful you might as well use your connection to the TARDIS to banish the parasites out of it. Okay? Thanks.” He pushed him towards the console which he teleported into the room while Alison was busy hunting qinderacs. “I’m going to summon the Empty Dimension, the TARDIS’s prison. Kind of like a wormhole but it leads to infinite existence in nonexistence. Makes sense?” He explained. “No, didn’t think so. I just had to use the word “wormhole”. We’re about to win, we can have fun. Throw the qinderacs into the Empty when it appears, would you Mrs Cheney?”

The Master activated his protection system and extended it to the TARDIS. He had to be a bit more forceful than usual but that never really bothered him and sure enough the Gallifreyan version of gastric lavage fulfilled its goal. White, slimy leeches started to fall from the ceiling and the walls, screeching as they covered the floor with their bodies and green mucus. The Heart pushed them out of itself like bullets, the Doctor closed himself into the Architectural Configuration room to protect anything artron energy filled from touching the slime. He pushed the button that activated the Empty Dimension and a black hole appeared a few meters away from the console. 

A soon as Alison noticed the change she started collecting the qinderac and throwing them into the Empty. Fortunately she had experience throwing unwanted or violent people out of places, yet she still couldn’t stop cursing as she grabbed and threw these disgusting creatures into the prison. Now that the rush of immediate danger was gone it just felt like throwing mouldy food out in the trash and that was not what she signed up for.

Once the TARDIS was finally empty the Master pushed a few buttons on the console and the ship cleared up the qinderac’s slime in a second. The Doctor closed the Empty Dimension and stepped out of the AC room.

“Well… That was not as cathartic as I expected. Guess it’s hard to make vermin cleansing exciting once they can’t talk anymore.” He muttered, almost embarrassed about how their adventure ended. He couldn’t give the creatures a big and long monologue, the Master thought, that’s what was missing. They had the confusion, the danger, the part where they had to run, the fear of losing everything and the rushed, exciting solution, but no monologue. He rolled his eyes.

“Would you like me to pretend to be the qinderac so you can tell me about how you were destined to win this whole time?”

“Oh, would you?” The Doctor’s eyes kindled.

The Master distorted his voice. “You can’t beat us, Doctor. We have your ship and your companion, nothing can stop us now.” He even added a crazy laugh but midway he decided it was too close to his own character so he stopped. It’s not like he needed it, those few sentences were enough to fire the Doctor up.

“That’s where you’re wrong. See, you might have your own colony but I also have mine and I will never stop fighting for the people that I love.” For once the Master was glad to be in a robotic body. If he was wearing flesh, he would have blushed. 

“My God, are we really doing this?” Alison buried her face into her hand, she was so done with these two.

“You might think that making everyone akin to yourself would make the world a better place but you’re wrong.” The Doctor continued. “The world is full of wonderful and diverse individuals and that’s what makes our relationships so complex. That’s what makes them beautiful.” He looked deep into the Master’s eyes. “If we were to agree on everything, have the same desires, think the same things, the world would become dull and we would lose our passion for one another. If we’d all be the same there would be no connection, no challenge and harmony would lose its appeal. Love would cease to exist if there’d be no one to love.” He stepped closer to the Master. A few meters away from them Alison was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. “And if there’s anything I’ve learned during my years traveling the stars is that love always perseveres. Even in the darkest hours, when existence seems hopeless, even when hatred darkens the soul, love is persistent.” The Master held his gaze but didn’t move. “The people you hurt- you’re hurting, I will never give up on them because I love them. And I know, I’m certain that they won’t give up on me either because they love me as well. Even if they’re way too stubborn to admit it.” The Master let out a soft chuckle under his smile and he tried to hide it by raising his hand to scratch his nose. The Doctor found it adorable considering robot noses couldn’t itch.

“As much as I like to see you two finally… Uh getting along… “Alison interrupted their moment “This seems a little intimate so if you could take me back to my time before you get back to it that would be great.”

The Doctor and the Master stepped away from each other, stuttering something about her being right and giving her small apologies. The Doctor quickly put the rooms back to their original places (Alison sneaked the two bottles of pálinka off of the console before he teleported it away) and hurried down to the console room to add the coordinates. The Master took the stairs in the opposite end of the TARDIS but followed the Doctor. Alison figured he needed to work through his embarrassment and whatever else he might have felt after his “friend’s” gesture.

She stayed on the second floor and headed to the Doctor’s bar. She poured herself a drink and sat down to reflect for a bit. This might have not been her favorite adventure but at the end she was satisfied with how it ended. Maybe she didn’t have to play the alien-therapist after all.

The TARDIS’s usual rattling sound snapped her out of her thoughts, they arrived back in England, 2003. Or somewhere nearby at least. Or somewhere completely different where new dangers, hopefully less disgusting ones awaited them. It was alright for her either way. She drank what was left of her pálinka and headed downstairs. On the way out she was thinking about how the Master was right. She did come to like him when she got to know him.

  * THE END -




End file.
